Cigar-case.



C. LEl\T]:"A1\T'In GIGAR CASE.

APPLIUATION FILED JUNI: 29', .1909. RBNEWBD MAY'zo, 1910.

Patented Dec. 20,1910.

llllrllllllllUV FUTED STATES PATENT FFQE.

CHARLES LENFANT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CIGAR-CASE.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented nee. 2o, iei-o.

Application filed June 29, 1909, Serial No. 504,986. Renewed May 20, 1910. Serial No. 562,522.

To all whom. it lmay concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES LENriiN'r, a citizen of' the United States, residing at New York, in the borough of Manhattan, county and State of ew York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Cigar-Cases, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved cigar-case of thatI style known as flexible coverless cigar-cases.

A general demand has sprung up for cigar-cases of flexible material in which no sliding cover is used and by which the cigars are protected against injury and breakage, while being carried in the vestor coatpocket. rihe'se iiexible cigar cases, however, have the disadvantage that they are not stift1 enough at the bottom and do not protect the cigars sufliciently while being carried in the pocket. Another disadvantage is that the cigars could not be quickly removed from the case and had sometimes to be shaken out of the case.

The ob] ect of this invention is to furnish a cigar-case in which the cigars are fully protected against injury, and in which all the cigars are lifted out of the case for a certain length and after one or more are taken out the remainder' returned into the rase; and jt'or this purpose the invention consii-its of a cigar-case which is provided with a double transverse partition and a lifting device arranged at the interior of the case and operated by a slide-piece which is guided in the double partition and by which the cigars can be lifted to some extent so as to project beyond the case, and then returned with thc slide-piece into the case.

rllhe invention consists further in the specific construction of the lifting device, as will be fully described hereinafter and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents a perspective view of my improved cigar-case with my lifting device, Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on line 2, Q Fig. l, Fig. S is a like vertical transverse section showing a modified construction of the lifting device, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the case, showing the cigars partly lifted out of the case so as to be conveniently removed from the same, Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section on line 5, 5, Fig. d, showing the lifting-device in raised position, Fig. G is a like vertical transverse section of the modified ,construction shown in Fig. 3, also showing the lifting-device in raised position, Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of the case, on line 7, 7, Fig. l, and Figs. 8 and 9 are detail horizontal sections on line S, 8, Fig. l, showing the reinforced slide-piece and its guiding partition in flat and laterally expanded condition.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures.

Referring to the drawings, a is a cigarcase of the so-called flexible coverless type. The cigar-case a is made open at the top and closed at the bottom and provided with inwardly-springing side-gussets g. it is curved or tapered at the lower part so as to correspond to the shape of the cigars placed in the same. The bottom is reinforced so as to have the required stiness for protect-ing the tip-ends of the cigars. The cigar-case is made in the usual manner with an interior lining of calf leather or other material and an outer or covering layer 1 of walrus or other stout and yet flexible leather, or of any other suitable material. The length of the case corresponds to the average size of the cigars to be carried in the same; but the case may be made in any size and shape. The case is constructed in any approved manner, and has the appearance of a seamless case as if made of one piece of leather. The lower end of the case is slightly rounded olf in transverse direction, the tapering sides permitting it to be easily placed into or removed from the pocket.

The case is provided at its center or at one side of the same with a transverse partition (Z, according to the number of cigars to be carried in the oase. The partition Z is preferably made of two separate layers Z1 which are passed through slits z' in the lining and pasted by their bent-over edges to the lining of the case so as to be firmly held in position. The double partition (Z serves for two purposes, on t-he one hand, for holding the cigars in upright position in the case and preventing the last cigar or last few cigars from slipping into an inclined or diagonal position in the case, in which position the cigars are liable to be injured or broken by the pressure and movement of the body; on the other hand, as a guide-sleeve for a transverse slide-piece e which passes through the douhlc partition from the upper open end of the fase to the inner lower end of the same, whern it is connected'by means of anchors cl at its lower ends with the lower end of the lining which is pasted to the outer or covering layer 1 up to a certain depth, while it is not connected with the same at the lower or bottom-portion, so that the slide-piece, when taken hold of and pulled in outward direction in the guidesleeve or partition will take the loose portion of the lining along from its lowermost position, shown in Fig. 2, into the folded position, shown in Fig. The loose bottom-portion of the lining forms a kind of trough or pocket by which, together with the side-piece, all the cigars can be lifted to a certain extent out of the case so that their butt-ends extend beyond the same, and can then be readily taken hold of and removed or otfcred to others.

After one or more cigars are removed, the slidepiece is pushed downward together with the remaining cigars and thereby the lining returned into its former position. 'lhe lining is reinforced at its bottoni or trough-portion, by an extra` layer of niuslin m and springs, so to say, when it is moved in upward position by the slide-piece, into 'folded position being held in this position by the friction of the folded portion of the liningl with the case, together with the cigars and slide-piece, as shown in Fig. 5.

ln place of arranging the trough-shaped portion in the loose lower portion of the lining, an independent trough-shaped bottom f can be used, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6. ln this case the trough-shaped bottom is anchored to the slide-piece e by passing it through slits to the underside of the same and pasting the outer ends thereto. In this case the lifting-device exerts less friction on the case and does not hold the cigars as reliably in lifted position as when the trough is formed in the loose portion of the lining, shown in Figs. Q and 5. The sliding trough for holding the tip-ends of the cigars, can howeve.' also be arranged in different manner as I do not desire to confine myself to the constructions shown.

The slide-piece c is formed of two sidealls which are reinforced by thin longitudinal strips c2 of whaleboue or thin sheetinetal, which are covered by thin leather. rlhey permit the lateral expansion of the double slide-piece f/ with the partition so as to form a tubular pocket, of diamoinl-shaped cross-section, into which a cigar-cutter, pencil or other article that .is desired to be carried in the case. may be inserted, as shown in Fig. Si. The cigar-case with the lifting-device may also be made in larger sizes for eX- tra long cigars. and in smaller sizes for cigarettes, in which latter case, however, the body of the case is not tapered toward its lower end, but made with parallel sides and slightly rounded-off corners so as to be adapted to the shape of the cigarettes to be carried therein. The lifting-device facilitates the removing` of the cigarettes from the case and offering them to others in the same manner as with the cigar-cases, as the cigarettes project with their ends beyond the rase, and are returned with the lifting-device into the case.

The advantages of my improved cigaror cigarette-case are, lirst, that the cigars or cigarettes carried in the same are fully protected against injury by breakage, being held in upright position without being able to shift into an inclined or diagonal position in the case; second, that the cigars or cigarettes can be readily removed from the case by actuating the lifting-device and lifting the cigars or cigarettes partly out of the case, and third, that the cigars or cigarettes are held in position, owing to the friction of the trough-shaped bottoni-portion of the lining with the side-walls of the case, and lastly, that the cigars or cigarettes are held in the case by the pressure of the walls on the same due to the inwardly springing gussets. rllhe lifting-device can also be applied to handbags, satchels, medicine-cases, hat-boxes, trunks, advertising novelties and many other receptacles or purposes to which it may be adapted so as to remove the articles carried therein in a quick and convenient manner.

Having thus described my invention, claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A cigaror cigarette-case comprising side-walls connected at the side-edges by collapsible gussets, a transverse collapsible tubular partition between said side-walls dividing the case into compartments, means at the bottom of the case for lifting articles therefrom, and a slide-piece in said tubular partition and attached to said means.

2. A cigaror cigarette-case having a lining secured all the way around the inner upper part of the case and extending to the bottoni thereof, a transverse slide-piece connected with the bottom-part of the lining, and a transverse tubular partition at the upper part of the case for guiding the slidepiece.

3. The combination, with a flexible cigarcase open at the top and closed at the bottom, of a double partition extending transversely across the upper portion of the case, a slide-piece in said double partition, a trough-shaped lifting device at the lower part of the case, and means connected with the slide-piece and guided in the partition for raising or lowering the lifting device.

4f. The combination, with a case open at the top and closed at the bottom, of a double transverse partition in the upper portion of the case, a lifting device located at the lower interior portion of the oase, and a sleeyei shaped slide-pieee attached to the bottom of the lifting device and provided Wit-h longitudinal reinforcing strips.

A, eigaror Cigarette-case open at the top and closed at the bottom7 comprising broader sides adapted to lie against each other, collapsible narrower gussets, a tubular partition disposed transversely to said broader sides and adapted to collapse when said broader sides lie against each other, a trough-shaped portion in the lower part of the ease, a flexible lining attached to the up- 

